Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Minimum Wage

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 24 October (HL2092), whether they will now answer the question concerning the number of criminal prosecutions that have been initiated in relation to the 700 employers "named and shamed" for failing to pay the minimum wage since October 2013; how many civil proceedings have been initiated; and what financial penalties were issued as a result of those proceedings.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The Government has named 687 employers for failing to pay at least the appropriate minimum wage rate to their workers, since the inception of our naming scheme in October 2013. Civil proceedings were initiated against all 687 of these employers, resulting in almost £1.4 million of penalties being levied. In addition, over £3.5 million of underpayments were identified, which the employers are required to repay to workers. Public naming represents the final element of the civil enforcement process. No criminal prosecutions were initiated against these employers. The Government’s priority is to ensure low paid workers receive the money they are owed, as quickly as possible. Civil proceedings are generally the most effective means of achieving this. However, where there is evidence that an offence has been committed the case will be considered for criminal investigation, which may lead to prosecution.

Electricity Generation

Lord Empey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of the UK's electricity is generated by companies based outside the UK.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The United Kingdom’s electricity producers have a 73GW power generation capacity, of which 58.8%, representing 43GW, is generated by companies whose parent company is based outside the UK.The UK is open for business and welcomes investment that meets the UK’s legal and regulatory standards.

Tickets: Sales

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish the evidence collected by the Competition and Markets Authority in relation to the secondary tickets platform compliance review.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The Competition and Markets Authority is an independent enforcement body and draws on a range of sources when carrying out such investigations. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not hold this evidence.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Syria: Military Intervention

Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the remarks by the Prime Minister at the Berlin summit in November condemning the atrocities in Aleppo and stating her agreement with "the need to keep up the pressure on Russia, including the possibility of sanctions on those who breach international humanitarian law", whether they have summoned the Russian Ambassador; and if so, how many times.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) summoned the Russian Ambassador to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 15 December. The Foreign Secretary made clear the UK Government’s concern over the actions of Russia in Syria, and in particular the situation in Aleppo where Russia has failed to uphold its obligations under international humanitarian law. The Foreign Secretary made similar points in his telephone call with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on 22 November.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Air Pollution

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they took to warn the public, media and government departments during the air pollution episode of 29 November to 6 December.

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice they issued to members of the public, during the air pollution episode of 29 November to 6 December, to avoid driving polluting vehicles and to use public transport, walk or cycle in the areas affected.

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they took during the air pollution episode of 29 November to 6 December to ensure that all health care practitioners in the areas affected were aware of the public health impacts.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The Government takes its responsibility for informing members of the public about air pollution events very seriously. The Government-funded website, UK-AIR, makes available a five day forecast from the Met Office on predicted air pollution levels across the United Kingdom, allowing members of the public to take action. This information is available on the Met Office website alongside the weather forecast. Members of the public or other organisations may also sign up to email bulletins via UK-AIR which provide timely information, including the air pollution forecast and latest monitoring information directly to subscribers when they need it.Defra has developed a multi-agency response group to be convened in the event of any air pollution event. This group comprises representatives from Defra, the Department of Health, Public Health England, the Met Office and Devolved Administrations. This group decides on the severity of the event, appropriate escalation and communication to ensure that consistent, evidence based key messages reach the public quickly.Between the 29 November and 6 December 2016 the group convened on three occasions at 10.15am each morning. As part of the agreed agenda a communications approach was discussed and agreed between all attendees. During the three events Defra issued proactive tweets on Twitter referring to the health advice, which was then re-tweeted by Public Health England. Defra took steps to inform the health charity network, which includes Asthma UK and the British Heart Foundation who work directly with vulnerable groups.

Agriculture: Seasonal Workers

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of reports of a fall in the number of temporary migrant agricultural workers since the referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, what steps they are taking to encourage migrant workers to apply for seasonal jobs on farms.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: I refer the Noble Lady to the Oral contribution given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Immigration during the Westminster Hall debate on the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme; Volume 617, Column 576WH on 30 November. I would draw your attention in particular to his reference to recently published Office for National Statistics figures that: “the number of workers from the eight countries of eastern and central Europe that joined the EU in 2004, and from Bulgaria and Romania—the countries most commonly associated with low-skilled labour—are also up year on year. To be precise, there were 129,000 more workers from those countries in the UK in the third quarter of 2016 compared with a year earlier. That does not suggest that there is a major exodus from the United Kingdom although, as I have said, I will continue to monitor the situation carefully.”

Trees

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 4 April (HL7141) and 19 September (HL1726), what further progress has been made in achieving their commitment of planting 11 million trees by 2020; and what is the estimated number of trees to be felled over the same period.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: A total of 1.35 million trees have been planted this Parliament, up to the end of September 2016, creating 1,009 hectares of new woodland. The next update, to the end of December 2016, will be published on 15 February 2017. The Woodland Carbon Fund opened on 10 November 2016 which, alone, could result in the planting of up to 11 million trees. On 8 December 2016 the Forestry Commission published guidance for Countryside Stewardship Woodland Creation Grant 2017, which opens for applications on 3 January 2017. We are also consulting on whether to raise the Environmental Impact Assessment threshold for afforestation projects to help further accelerate tree planting. No estimate has been made of the number of trees felled over the same period or of the number of trees to be felled during the remainder of this Parliament.

Air Pollution

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what regulatory and legal mechanisms will be available to hold the United Kingdom accountable for failing to meet air quality targets once it has left the European Union.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: Reducing air pollution is a priority for this Government. UK law sets out legally binding targets to reduce concentrations and emissions of key air pollutants. The Ambient Air Quality Directive was made law in England through the Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010. The National Emission Ceilings Directive 2016 will be transposed into UK legislation by the end of June 2018. Current legal mechanisms for enforcing UK law, such as judicial review, will continue to be available when the UK leaves the European Union. Air quality has improved significantly in recent decades; we are working at local, national and international levels and will continue to do more. As we prepare to negotiate our exit from the European Union, the Government will continue to ensure that the right policies are in place for a cleaner, healthier environment for everyone. The Government will set out further actions to improve air quality next year including consulting on a revised National Air Quality Plan for nitrogen dioxide by 24 April. The final plan will be in place by the end of July. We will also publish the UK Government’s air pollution action plan, which will include all pollutants and implement the requirements of the National Emissions Ceilings Directive, no later than March 2019.

Hill Farming

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 12 December (HL3633), what is their assessment of the contribution of pastoral hill farmers who are tenants of the National Trust to the conservation of heritage sheep breeds.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The Government recognises the important contribution of hill farmers to the conservation of heritage sheep breeds. We have no information on the particular contribution of hill farmers who are tenants of the National Trust.

Hill Farming: Lake District

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 12 December (HL3631), what is their assessment of the environmental contributions made by hill farmers in the Lake District who are (1) landowners, and (2) tenant farmers; and what assessment they have made of the way in which landowners, including the National Trust and other charities, distribute payments resulting from environmental measures to tenants.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The Government has made no assessment which differentiates between the contribution of landowners and tenants. Payments under agri-environment schemes are made for carrying out environmental management and these payments are made directly to agreement holders, who may be landowners or tenants, depending on who has the required management control of the land under agreement. Whether there are further disbursements of monies received, or other contractual arrangements between landowners and tenants, is entirely a matter for the parties concerned.